Everything
around her was dark. Just as dark as she had expected it to be. But
after all, what could one expect from the interior of a tree?
Suddenly, she felt something warm breathe against her cheek. Sighing,
she rolled her eyes.
"Tell your horse to get its mouth out of my
face, will you?", she snapped. She felt the warm, soft nostrils
draw back from her face, only to be replaced by cold, pointed teeth.
On her neck.
"You are testing my patience", she hissed through
gritted teeth; her mouth was still aching all over from his previous
'signs of affection'. She guessed that he had let himself be
carried away by the excitement of the moment, by the triumph to have
his head back. She did not blame him for that. She could only imagine
what it must mean to him, getting his skull back where it belonged.
In spite of the piercing pain in her mouth, she felt herself smile at the thought. The skull … this object, so full of magic, so full of power if one knew how to use it, and still the most useless thing in the world. Yet, it had proven to be a most useful tool …
She raised her right hand and fulfilled a succession of graceful, complicated gestures. In front of her, a small, colourful cloud seemed to emerge from the tips of her fingers, rising up to the level of her face, illuminating it in a way that would remind most mortals of a mask, a mask showing the features of a demon, a devil. Inside this cloud, colours were swirling around like mist, moving, forming pictures of nothing and everything before finally showing the clearing outside their hiding place.
There was the young man, still lying on the ground, and the brat, fussing over him. She could see the boy come towards the tree, unnoticed by the other two, and walk around it slowly. He seemed to be looking for something. When he did not find it, he went back to the other two fools, who were now both awake and on their feet. She could not hear what the boy was saying, but the look of relief on everybody's face told her everything she needed to know.
They
believed themselves safe. They thought that by giving the Hessian his
skull back, she would lose control over him. Those fools! Did they
really think that if it were like that she would carry it around? Oh
yes, the skull was powerful, but it was not essential to govern the
Horseman. It had been a mere instrument to canalise the energy with
which she had called him. Her true power over him lay in her
knowledge of witchcraft and the ancient powers of nature.
But
useless though it might be, it had turned out to be an excellent
decay. Those young fools had jumped at conclusions, just as she had
known they would. Of course, she could have had them beheaded long
ago, but revenge was the sweeter, the slyer it was.
She watched them walk towards the edge of the clearing, seemingly walking into a new life. A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.
Still smiling, she instructed the Hessian to open the trunk of the tree so she could get out. Watching the three figures in her little cloud, she smiled even broader as she saw them stop dead in their tracks at the sound of the wood breaking.
With a snap of her fingers, she let the cloud disappear and gracefully emerged from the tree that was considered the gate to hell itself.
For some moments, she simply enjoyed the sight of the three frozen, horrified people before she finally made her entrance.
"Surprise!", her voice echoed through the wavering clouds of mist beginning to fill the clearing.
And surprised they were.
